POTD: .25 Cal Beretta

My girlfriend’s Beretta model 20 in .25 acp she got from her grandfather. For the longest time it had no magazine but I happened to find a magazine for it in the drawer of a fellow officers desk. A pill bottle of .25 ammo from the evidence custodian and she ran like a champ. Anemic but still a very pretty gun. They produced these for a few years as a trial prior to producing the model 21 series handguns.

Like Andrew says, these are neat little guns, but I would not put my life in the hands of .25 ACP. Out of a short barreled pistol, and average (ie. not hot) .25 ACP gives about 66 ft lbs of muzzle energy …. a lot less than a standard velocity .22 LR!

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Jack Morris

I’ve always thought these were neat little pistols. There’s just something cool and intriguing about the 25acp. It’s ballistics are garbage, but it’s so tiny and intricate for a centerfire cartridge. I’ve always wanted to handload some.

Wayneregina

I had a little tip barrel Beretta in .22 short. A box of ammo weighed more than the gun. I managed to shoot a gopher with it once, from about 10 feet away, and had to walk over and shoot it a second time to put it down. It was a cute little thing but useless for SD if you were more than a couple of feet away

hikerguy

I had a buddy who kept one in .22 short in his tackle box. Often during our forays into the wilderness I would take the gun and make a can dance around just for the fun of it. It was really the only use I could find for the .22 short version. The .25 version was probably more practical, but not much more.

Anon

I have one that I would sell if someone was interested.

Greg Thompson

25 cal Beretta was the original James Bond gun before he switched to the Walther PPK in Dr No

Not sure .32ACP is “a brick through a plate glass window” but it certainly beats .25…

Guest

Not sure .32ACP is “a brick through a plate glass window” but it certainly beats .25.

john

Carried one for about a year 25 years ago. It served its purpose and made me feel better than carrying pepper spray…but just barely.

Mike

Underpowered? Ever check the penetration of .25acp loads? Most meet the FBI minimum penetration of 12 inches of ballistic gel.

mosinman

I wonder. if.25 could be loaded to become legit SD ammo. hollow point tech has gotten very good these years

Giolli Joker

Based on shootingthebull410 quest to find the best .380 defensive round, I’d go for a similar solution: Lehigh XP bullets – good permanent cavity and more penetration than comparable expanding bullets.
(They do not offer a .25 ACP load, though)

Fruitbat44

Well if it was good enough for 007 . . .

Mind you a .25ACP, while it has been described (Col. Cooper?) as, “Being armed with a deadly weapon, but unable to effectively defend oneself,” is still a gun in your hand when a bad guy shows up. At the end of the day nobody wants to get shot. Even with a .25ACP. Especially if as a would be mugger and/or rapist they have the Plan B option of *running away.*